


No Matter What

by natashasbanner



Series: Prompts [67]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Red Room (Marvel)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-16 16:33:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16957590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natashasbanner/pseuds/natashasbanner
Summary: Natasha remembers more of her time in the Red Room. Bruce is there to support her.For the prompt: Things get super heated in the bedroom, but instead of Bruce getting nervous and backing out-it's actually Natasha. And Bruce ends up finding out about something that happened to Natasha that he really didn't want to know.





	No Matter What

**Author's Note:**

> Rated for the topic of discussion, it's not really explicit but you can never be too careful when it comes to this sort of thing.

Natasha was finally back from her mission in Russia. He wasn’t sure why she’d gone, he was almost certain it didn’t have anything to do with any sort of official Avengers business, but he hadn’t questioned her about it. She’d been gone for a month and a half, sending messages once or twice a week to let him know she was okay. And now she was back. 

After a quick hug when she arrived back at the upstate facility, she disappeared to take a shower and rest. Bruce finished the rest of his work in the labs and went to find Natasha for dinner. 

He found her in her room just pulling a t-shirt over her head, her hair still damp from the shower. 

“Hey,” he said as he entered the room, closing the door behind him. 

“Hi,” she said with a tired smile. She sat down on the end of the bed and picked up the brush from the nightstand. 

“I was going to order in for dinner, do you want something in particular?” 

She shrugged and ran the brush through her hair a few times. “I’ll eat whatever.” 

Bruce nodded, watching hypnotized as she quickly braided her hair and threw it over her shoulder. It was the longest Bruce had ever seen it, but she was talking about getting it chopped off again. He shook his head to rid his mind of his distracted thoughts and leaned his back against the door. 

“How’d it go over there?” 

“Well, it wasn’t a complete waste of time,” she said, blinking up at him. He could see the disappointment in her eyes. 

“Do you want to talk about it?”  

She chuckled humorlessly. “No. I’m just glad to be back.” 

“I missed you,” he said quietly, ducking his head to watch her through his lashes. 

“I missed you too.” She stood from the bed and walked over to him. 

Gently, she placed her hands on his chest and moved them until they were clasped around his neck. 

“Maybe dinner can wait a while,” she whispered in his ear. 

“Fine by me.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips. 

She parted her lips for him to deepen the kiss and pressed her body flush against his. 

He gave her a light nudge toward the bed and she started backing up toward her bed. Their lips only separated when the backs of Natasha’s legs hit the edge of the mattress. She stumbled a little and dropped onto it with a surprised “umph”. 

She smirked up at Bruce and started pulling his button down from where it was tucked into his slacks. She started unbuttoning it, but he caught her hands and brought then to his lips, taking his time kissing her knuckles. He placed his knee on the mattress between her thighs and eased her onto her back, keeping a hold of her wrists. 

He crawled up her body and kissed her until she was out of breath. He pulled back and pressed his forehead against hers. She panted and raised her knee to knock him off balance on top of her. He shifted her wrists into one hand and slipped his hand between their bodies, but he didn’t much farther than grazing the waistband of the leggings she was wearing. 

Before he realized what was happening, she clenched her thighs around his waist had him on his back with her hand clenched around his throat. For a second he thought she was just messing around, but her grip on his throat was too tight to be teasing and when he looked up her face was pinched, her eyes unfocused. 

“Natasha,” he choked out, trying to get her fingers away from his throat, or at the very least get her to loosen her grip so he could breathe. 

Her eyes flashed briefly and just as suddenly as she’d been on him, she threw herself back. She stumbled away from the bed, a look of horror on her face as she shook her head and muttered under her breath in Russian. He’d been trying to learn the language, but she was talking too fast for him to catch any singular words or phrases he recognized. 

He sat up and leaned against the headboard. Taking a few experimental breaths, he ran his fingers over the places her nails dug into his skin. There was no doubt in his mind that there would be a bruise there in the morning. 

Natasha had pressed herself into the far corner of the room, her arms wrapped protectively around herself while she muttered softly in Russian. Bruce wanted to know what the hell just happened, but he didn’t even want to imagine the sort of memories he’d triggered. But mostly he wanted to make sure she was okay without startling her or making whatever flashback she was having worse. 

“Natasha,” he said softly, keeping his voice even. 

She looked up at him, unshed tears shining in her eyes. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice cracking slightly over her words. 

Bruce shook his head, his bruise would fade. “Are you alright?” 

She didn’t answer him and looked away again. She started speaking in Russian again and it wasn’t hard to put the pieces together. Being back there, whatever she’d been doing had dragged some old, buried memories back to the surface. He clenched his jaw angrily, furious at the thought of anyone laying a hand on her, then and now, but he calmed herself in favor of her well being in that moment. 

Cautiously, he slid off the side of the bed and slowly rounded the foot. She didn’t move, just watched him with a far off look in her eyes. He stopped a few feet away from her, giving her space so she didn’t feel crowded or trapped. He held out his hand to her and to his surprise, she immediately reached out and squeezed his fingers tight. 

Bruce guided her to the armchair in the other corner. She sat, shivering and rubbing her hands furiously up and down her arms to warm herself back up. Bruce grabbed the throw blanket from the back of the chair and tucked it around her shoulders before sitting on the ottoman in front of her. 

She looked down at him and smiled weakly. 

“Thank you.” 

“Any time,” he breathed. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

Her eyes drifted down to his neck and she reached out to trace the red lines he knew were still visible.

“I’m sorry,” she said again. 

“I’m fine,” he assured her. “But I’m worried about you.” 

She sighed and leaned against the back of the chair, turning her head away to look out the window beside her. 

She stayed quiet for a long time, until she closed her eyes and started talking. 

“I wanted answers,” she finally said, looking down at her hands. “There are gaps in my memories, huge chunks of my life are missing. And the things I do remember have been so altered I can’t separate what’s real and what’s not.” 

Bruce nodded, tentatively reaching out to squeeze her knee softly. 

“I wanted to see if I could find anything about my past, where I came from before the Red Room made me.” 

“Did you find anything?” 

She turned to look down at him again and nodded. 

“I found my parents, where they’re buried.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

Natasha shrugged and looked back out the window. 

“I don’t remember them, they died when I was just a little kid, I guess that’s how the Red Room got a hold of me.

I think being back there was enough to trigger some things my brain was repressing. I found where they used to keep us.” 

Bruce’s eyes widened. “Oh.” 

“I remember the training they put us through and it wasn’t all combative.” 

Bruce clenched his jaw, but remained silent while she collected her thoughts. He rubbed reassuring circles on her knee. 

“Our bodies were our weapons,” her voice hitched slightly, but she continued. “We were forced into compliance, like everything else.” 

“Nat,” Bruce breathed out. He wasn’t sure what to say, he just wanted to make her feel better, to ease some of the pain she was feeling. 

“I don’t remember all of it,” she admitted and looked down at him. “It comes and goes in flashes, I’m sorry.” 

“You don’t have anything to be sorry about,” he promised, squeezing her knee. “I can’t even imagine what you went through.” 

The corner of her mouth quirked slightly in a sad smile. “I’m starting to think I was better off not knowing.” 

“I don’t know what I can say that will make you feel better,” he admitted, ducking his head. 

“You’re here,” she said running her fingers along his jaw and lifting her chin. “That’s more than I could have asked for.” 

He smiled softly and held his arms open for her. She slid off the chair and wrapped her arms around his neck and held on like she was afraid he’d disappear if she let go. Bruce held her just as tight, shifting to kiss her temple and whisper in her ear. 

“I’ll always be here, no matter what.”


End file.
